Chrissie Swan breaks down in emotional 'A Current Affair' interview

Radio personality Chrissie Swan has opened up in a tell-all interview, discussing everything from her weight to online bullying.

In an interview with Tracy Grimshaw on A Current Affair that aired last night, the bubbly Melbourne radio host broke down when she spoke about the magazine photo shoot that sparked a barrage of online abuse.

Last year Woman's Day beat the mother-of-three in a bidding war for photographs of Swan smoking while she was pregnant with her daughter. Photo: Supplied

“I failed them because I should have known that there were arseholes in the world. I should have known that people could be awful and I didn’t know.”

She says that experience made her less open, but it hasn’t stopped private matters from becoming public.

Last year Woman's Day beat the mother-of-three in a bidding war for photographs of Swan smoking while she was pregnant with her daughter.

She said she tried to buy the photographs because she wanted to protect her children.

“You spend your whole life as a parent bloody making out like you're Mother Mary, they never see you eat ice-cream they never see you have a drink, you don’t swear around them, you certainly don't smoke,” said Swan.

The issue is clearly still a sore spot for Swan. “Every time I see the cover of that magazine it’s like a kick in the guts,” she said.

But Swan says her partner, Chris, has stood by her side through everything.

“I remember I had to tell him about the smoking [pictures] because he didn't know I was having that one cigarette a day, it was a secret from everyone including him,” Swan told the program.

“[He] never said anything mean ever, which was really nice because I certainly said a lot of mean things about myself over that time.”

Often criticised about her weight as well, Swan says she just doesn’t understand all the fuss.

“It is what it is. A lot of people say ‘oh, you’re so brave’, and I’m like ‘why? Cause I exist? I had the audacity to be on television',” said Swan.

“I think it’s really sad that a lot of larger women do wear it as a curse and believe the messages that they’re not good enough or they’re not beautiful or that they don’t have a right to inhabit the world just like a thin person.”

Swan says she is perfectly happy in her own skin.

“I don’t think I’m ugly. I don’t think I have no right to be in the world or on the cover of a magazine,” said Swan.

“I just don’t think it’s relevant, the size of my arse, I just don’t.”

Swan says her size is something she normally doesn’t even think about.

“Oviously I am a bigger person, but I spend approximately zero minutes a day thinking about it,” said Swan.

“People are fascinated by a fat woman on television, I don’t know why it’s interesting.”

Although she claims to not be a very ambitious person, Swan has been able to enjoy great success since becoming the Big Brother runner-up in 2003.

She hosted a radio show on the Sunshine Coast, before joining Network Ten’s morning chat show The Circle.

She won a Silver Logie in 2011 for most popular new female talent for her appearance on The Circle, and has also written a book, Is It Just Me? Confessions of an Over-Sharer.

Swan now co-hosts Melbourne’s number one FM breakfast radio show, the Chrissie and Jane show, on Mix 101.1.